To think that pushchairs should have same priority as wheelchairs on buses?

[SparklyC]

Today - packed bus, I was in the pushchair bit on the bus, another mum got on with a buggy loaded with shopping. People sat in space that could have held another buggy in it didn't get up so both our pushchairs had to go in one space and my pushchair is one of those big all-terrain things! Then bus driver stopped bus for wheelchair user and asked us if either of us could fold down our pushchairs/move? Well, first of all, there wouldn't have been any room for us to sit down with our babies and also have our shopping on our knee or even stored on luggage shelf once pushchairs were on. Also the bus service I travel on has a bus every 4 minutes in the daytime. So the bus driver (who obviously has to be sen to be doing the right thing) got off the bus to tell the wheelchair user that the bus was full, and would he mind waiting for the next one, which he didn't anyway. What does everyone else think? Should we mums with our pushchairs be given the same priority as wheelchairs? Should bus drivers ask other passengers to move so that we can get on, instead of (sometimes) feeling like we are an annoyance and an obstacle to them?

[Secondtimelucky]

How big are you JuliaScurr? Op says it's a big all terrain one, so if you're petite I reckon you could squeeze in. I'll push if you want (since I doubt the wheels are aligned for you to).

[MillyR]

Is today actually April 1st? This is the second joke OP I've read today.

[Kewcumber]

Definitely a wind up...

[CardyMow]

Um, yes, YABvvvvvvvvvvvU. I'm sure that you can carry a 25lb toddler. I'm sure you would struggle to hold a 15 stone man.

I have a 10mo DS3 BTW. I FULLY expect that if a wheelchair user wants to board the bus that I will have to fold my pushchair, or get off and wait for the next bus if I am unable to fold.

. You actually believe that it is the same thing? When an able bodied person who is pushing a pram has a choice over whether to use the bus, or to walk, or to drive a car?

Oh, and as an aside, I have epilepsy so cannot drive, and I am being investigated for possible Fibromyalgia, so walking is too much exertion for me. Yet I STILL expect to have to fold or get off if someone who IS IN A WHEELCHAIR OR MAC MAJOR needs to get on.

[Kewcumber]

But you are in any event being perfectly reasonable becasue every wheelchair user travels with an able bodied comapnion who can help them out of their chair and sling them over one shoulder whilst said chair is folded up. Just like a pushchair.

[lettingitallgonow]

YABVU why didn't you offer to get off to let the Wheelchair user onto the bus?

It's your choice to use a pushchair, i'm pretty sure the wheelchair user didn't have a choice in the matter.

[GypsyMoth]

Op, where are you??

[WilsonFrickett]

So why didn't one of you politely ask the people who were sitting in the other buggy space to move?

Oh and get a smaller buggy!

[valiumredhead]

Oh fuck off!

[ChunkyPickle]

I'm just going to throw this out there, as a devils advocate kind of thing, but I used to use a mei-tai for mine, and it was great. Now he's a hulking great one-year-old though, and whilst I can put him in the carrier, it can only be for very short periods of time, and would be all-but impossible to carry much shopping too. Whilst he can walk, he can't walk far, and since I get shoved and trodden on on the bus myself, so I really don't think it's safe for someone half my height who doesn't even know enough to dodge yet to stand on the bus. If I carry him, then I can't hold on (and some drivers round here must do rallying at the weekend given the racing starts they do!).

The mother doesn't get special treatment because she has a child, but that child is a person, a person with special needs which can often necessitate that they are in a buggy for safety and mobility, and as such possibly should be granted some extra dispensation because of that.

In this situation, someone should have got up and either offered the space for the buggy, or allowed one of the mothers to sit with child on lap so they could fold the buggy, and I think if the driver had applied a bit of guilt-tripping that that's what would have happened.

[TruthSweet]

The only time a pushchair has priority over a wheelchair is when it is a SN pushchair. The rest of the time you can get out and wait for next bus, fold up pushchair and get back on, or walk to your destination.

I say this a mum with epilepsy who is not allowed to drive (nor can I to be fair) who has a child with mobility issues (mild ones thankfully and they are getting better!) but I have still got off a bus to allow a wheelchair on as it wasn't important we got into town urgently and for all I know it may have been for them.

[MillyR]

The bit where the OP complains that she might have to put her luggage on the luggage shelf is particularly funny.

[crashdoll]

You are an annoyance and an obstacle to them. You choose to push your little darling in a monstrosity. No one chooses to need to use a wheelchair.

[MsScarlettInTheLibrary]

Clearly extremely unreasonable to suggest that your shopping and pushchair should take priority over a person. An actual person should always take priority over your luggage. Even more so if that person have very limited options to get where they are going, amongst other difficulties.

[ScrambledSmegs]

YABU and very selfish. Wheelchair users have priority in the designated wheelchair areas. You can fold up a pushchair and sit down with your child - people tend to give up their seats for you in that situation, even in Central London. And if they don't you swallow your pride and ask politely but loudly for help/a seat.

Wheelchair users don't have the option of folding up their chairs and standing. Therefore they must take priority. Surely you can see that?

[ScrambledSmegs]

Oh, and get a pushchair! All-terrain buggies are for long walking trips, not for a quick scoot around the shops!

[GypsyMoth]

Oh come now everyone... She has GIVEN BIRTH..... Everyone needs to revolve round her from now on..,

[SaggyoldCHRISTMASHUMBUGcatpuss]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHHAAAHAHAHAHAH!

[nofrikkincarbs]

I am not sure pushchairs and whllchairs should be given the same priority, however when ds was tiny, I had to use the bus and wasn't allowed on till I had collapsed my pram - not sure how the bus driver expected me to do this whilst holding a newborn baby and with tons of shopping though.....

[JuliaScurr]

I choose to use the wheelchair. I get the free parking, the free patronising and the absence of any usable 'public' transport. And the ability to roll on virtually any terrain, especially if nudged lightly by dp's foot. Oh, how the people of Happy Valley laughed and were glad!

[MillyR]

FGS!!

I really should save an explanation of this as I seem to put it on every thread.

1. Before the bus comes, Put shopping down
   
2. Pass baby to other person in bus queue, or lay baby on blanket/fleece on ground for a few seconds while you
   
3. Fold pushchair.
   
4. Pick baby up
   
5. Bus arrives, get on bus with baby and folded pushchair
   
6. Pass baby to passenger
   
7. Get shopping. Get back on bus.

[AntiqueAnteater]

1. walk